Systematic enhancement of contact information

ABSTRACT

A system for systematically enhancing consumer and business contact information is disclosed. A server located “in the cloud” systematically controls a database of contact data elements, some of which have preferred and/or user-selected privacy protocols and update availability. These protocols and availability may restrict some data elements from being shared unless a data-owner&#39;s explicit permission is obtained. When the server receives a request for such a restricted data element, the server may issue an email or text message in order to obtain the necessary permissions. If permission is granted, the server then supplies the requested data. Beyond this base functionality, expanded services provide complementary enhancement functionality.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No.15/172,412 filed on Jun. 3, 2016, which claims priority to U.S.application Ser. No. 14/183,837 filed on Feb. 19, 2014, which claimspriority to U.S. Application 61/766,390 filed on Feb. 19, 2013, thecontents of all of which are fully incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to systems and methods for systematicallyenhancing (e.g., updating and expanding) personal contact informationaccessible via an electronic communications device, and moreparticularly, to systems and methods of enhancing information whilerespecting user privacy and/or preference protocols and stipulations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic personal communications devices such as, but not limited to,smart phones and tablet computers, frequently have, or have access to,databases of contact information somewhat tailored to the user of thedevice. Such databases are very useful, but often contain incomplete orinaccurate records as some, or all, of a contact's information maychange over time or may be absent. Updating such databases may need tobe an ongoing task, and may be tedious and time consuming when donemanually. Systematic contact information enhancement apps and servicesare therefore desirable. Users of such services may, however, beconcerned about their privacy. They may, for instance, not want theirwireless phone numbers or email addresses known to other people withouttheir permission.

The present invention addresses these issues and concerns by providing asystem and method for systematically enhancing contact information,while providing privacy and security protocols so that a subscriber'sprivacy choices are respected related to what could be deemed by theuser to be “sensitive information” like wireless phone numbers and emailaddresses.

Description of the Related Art

The relevant prior art wiring includes:

U.S. Pat. No. 7,940,910 issued to Chatterjee, et al. on May 10, 2011entitled “Directory integration in mobile systems” that describesembodiments for generating a sorted integrated directory. The sortedintegrated directory integrates contacts from disparate directories intoa common directory. The formation of the integrated directory includesreceiving contacts from multiple directories. The contacts represent orare formed under multiple data structures, with one data structurecorresponding to one of the directories. The received contacts areconverted into contact objects. The contact objects, each of whichrepresents a contact, all include or are formed under a common datastructure. An integrated directory is generated or formed from thecontact objects. The integrated directory thus includes a set ofcontacts of the disparate source directories.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,660,857 issued to Smith, et al. on Feb. 9, 2010 entitled“Systems and methods for automatically updating electronic mail accesslists” that describes a system and method for accepting a recipientidentifier, wherein the recipient identifier can be used to identify anelectronic mail (email) recipient; generating a petition based on therecipient identifier and at least one petition rule, wherein the atleast one petition rule includes at least one of: 1) a senderidentification method; and 2) a recipient; and wherein the petition canbe used by a email provider to allow a recipient to receive email from asender.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,131,569 issued to Maresh, et al. on Mar. 6, 2012entitled “Methods, systems, and devices for modifying medical files”that describes methods, systems, and devices for managing, transferring,modifying, converting and/or tracking medical files and/or medicalsystem messages. In certain embodiments, the foregoing may generally bebased on requesting medical files at a first medical facility,identifying the requested medical files at a second medical facility,initiating a secure network connection between the first and secondmedical facility, modifying a header portion of the medical files basedon patient identification information created by the first medicalfacility, and other processing steps.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,822,189 issued to Rana, et al. on Oct. 26, 2010 entitled“Searching multiple directories and generating a sorted integrateddirectory” that describes embodiments for searching multipledirectories. The searching includes remote searching and localsearching. Local searching is performed against the local integratedphonebook on a client device. In contrast, remote searching is performedagainst one or more directories or directory types of an enterpriseserver (e.g. corporate directory, etc.). The local directory on theclient device therefore effectively functions like a cache ofinformation of one or more of the directories of the enterprise server,where the cache is stored locally on the client device.

Various implements are known in the art, but fail to address all of theproblems solved by the invention described herein. Various embodimentsof this invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and willbe described in more detail herein below.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for systematicallyenhancing databases of contact information such as, but not limited to,the databases commonly associated with electronic communicationsdevices, including mobile communications devices.

A method for systematically enhancing a database of contact informationon an end-user electronic communications device having the steps ofproviding a manager server having programmed instructions forsystematically controlling a server database, said database comprising aplurality of contact data elements, one or more of said contact dataelements being obtained from a data-owner programmed app operative on acontact data-owner electronic communications device via said managerserver and wherein one or more of said contact data elements comprises apreferred privacy protocol selected via said contact data-ownerelectronic communications device; receiving a request, from an end-userprogrammed app operative on said end-user electronic communicationsdevice, for one or more of said contact data elements stored on saidserver database, said contact data element being identified by a knowndata element of said data-owner contact data elements; systematicallyapplying, by said manager server, said preferred privacy protocol ofsaid requested communications data element; and, if said preferredprivacy protocol allows, systematically supplying, by said servermanager, a requested contact data element to said programmed appoperative on said end-user electronic communications device.

In a preferred embodiment, a server that may be located “in the cloud”may systematically control or contain a database of contacts. Thedatabase may, for instance, contain contact or locator data elementssuch as, but not limited to, people and/or company names, addresses,telephone numbers, email addresses, company or private URLs, or somecombination thereof.

Some or all of these database elements may have been obtained from anowner of the data via a programmed app that may be operative on anelectronic communications device. In such an instance, the data elementmay also contain, or be associated with, a preferred privacy protocol.Such a preferred privacy protocol may, for instance, includeinstructions such as, but not limited to, never share my wireless phonenumber, only share my email address with my permission, or somecombination thereof. Where the data owner's permission may be requiredfor sharing, the server may automatically request that permission via anelectronic means such as, but not limited to, an email, a voicemail, apermission based SMS message, voice activation or some combinationthereof.

In a preferred embodiment, when the manager server receives a requestfrom an end-user, or from a programmed app operative on their electroniccommunications device, the server may automatically apply any suchprivacy protocol associated with the requested data element. Such arequest may, for instance, take the form of a contact's known emailaddress and be a request for their wireless phone number. Only if theprotocol allows will the requested data be supplied.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an elective,systematized service for end-users to update their contact databaseswhile maintaining the privacy of data owners.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a contactupdate service that systematically maintains correct information on ascheduled, pre-authorized basis.

Still another object of the present invention is to update contactinformation while systematically allowing the end-user to maintaincontrol of which contact information is updated.

Still another object of the present invention is to systematically routethose user requests for contact information that fail to generateavailable updates to expanded data service functionality.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic overview of a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic flow diagram indicating various steps that maybe used in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to the drawings. Identical elements in the variousfigures are identified with the same reference numerals.

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the presentinvention. Such embodiments are provided by way of explanation of thepresent invention, and are not intended to be limited thereto. In fact,those of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate upon reading thepresent specification and viewing the present drawings that variousmodifications and variations can be made thereto.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic overview of a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, which may be a system 100 for systematicallyenhancing a database of personal contact information that may be partof, or accessible to, an end-user.

In a preferred embodiment, the end-user may have an end-user electroniccommunications device 110 that may be running an end-user programmed app145. The end-user app 145 may, for instance, be programmed so as tosystematically examine one or more personal contact information records175. Where the app locates an element that may be missing or outdated,on the end-users personal contact information database 105, the app maythen systematically establish contact with a manager server 115 that mayhave access to a more comprehensive and/or up-to-date database 120 ofcontact data elements 125.

A contact record may, for instance, contain locator data elements suchas, but not limited to, a record identifier, a contact's first name, acontact's last name, a company name, a contact's mobile phone number,work phone number, home phone number, email address, street or mailingaddress, city and state of residence, zip or postal code, country ofresidence or some combination thereof.

A request for further data may, for instance, require sufficient dataelements to identify a person such as, but not limited to, data elementssuch as, but not limited to, a record identifier, a contact's first andlast name, a last name and company name, a contact's mobile phonenumber, work phone number, home phone number, email address, a contact'sstreet or mailing address including city, state and ZIP Code together intheir entirety.

The known data elements 150 may be transmitted as part of a request 140for further data elements. The request may, for instance, be made via anelectronic communications network 195 such as, but not limited to, theInternet. On receiving the request, the manager server 115 may thenquery the server database 120 for a matching record containing the dataelements specified in the request 140 and further contact data elements125. The server database 120 may also find that the contact dataelements 125 include, or are associated with, one or more preferredprivacy protocols 135.

These preferred privacy protocol 135 may have been supplied by the dataowner using a data-owner programmed app 155 running on a contactdata-owner electronic communications device 130. The data-owner personalcontact information 180 may, for instance, also reside on a data-ownerdatabase 170.

A preferred privacy protocol 135 that may have been selected, orspecified, by the data-owner when subscribing to scheduled,pre-authorized enhancement services may take a number of forms that maydepend on specific scenarios.

When requesting information, subscribing to a service or simply updatingpreferences, a data requester may for instance specify preferences, orlimits, on how any requests may be made by the end-user programmed app145 operative on their end-user electronic communications device 110.These request preferences may include instructions such as, but notlimited to, allowing text messages to be sent from the end user, or datarequester, phone, allowing emails to be sent from the phone, to neverask how or what to send, or to ask how or what to send on a record byrecord basis, i.e., for each request, or some combination thereof.

When an end-user, or an end-user programmed app 145 running on theend-user electronic communications device 110 decides to requestinformation, an existing contact may be selected as the one for whichmore, or more current, information is desired. The end-user may, forinstance, already have the contact's email address, but would also liketo have his or her wireless phone number. The end-user programmed app145 may then send an email or SMS from the end-user electroniccommunications device 110 to the manager server 115 device requestingthe wireless phone number of the contact identified by the known dataelement 150 that may, for instance, be the known email address, or otherknown data sufficient to identify the contact. The manager server 115may then send a permission request email 165 to the data-ownerprogrammed app 155 running on the contact data-owner electroniccommunications device 130. If the request is allowed, or approved, thedata-owner programmed app 155 may then return the requested informationor an approval for the manager server 115 to supply the requestedinformation, to the manager server 115. The manager server 115 may thensend the requested and approved requested contact data element 160 on tothe end-user programmed app 145.

In a second scenario, the end-user may know the contact's wireless phonenumber and may want to obtain his or her email address.

The end-user programmed app 145, or the manager server 115, may thensend a permission request SMS or text message 185 message to thedata-owner programmed app 155 on the contact data-owner electroniccommunications device 130. The data-owner programmed app 155 may thenobtain the requested data-owner personal contact information 180 fromthe data-owner database 170 either directly to the end-user programmedapp 145 or to the manager server 115 for storing on the contact dataelements 125 and for forwarding on to the end-user programmed app 145.The data-owner programmed app 155 may instead send authorization to thedata-owner programmed app 155 to obtain and send the requested data. Thedata-owner programmed app 155 may then obtain the requested data fromthe server database 120 or from a third-party database 190, and thensend the data to the end-user programmed app 145 on the end-userelectronic communications device 110.

When the data-owner programmed app 155 receives a request for data, itmay first have the data-owner select or update privacy protocols. Theprivacy protocols may include instructions such as, but not limited to,to systematically ask permission to provide a requested email address,to systematically ask permission to provide a wireless phone number, tosystematically provide a requested email, to systematically provide awireless phone number, to systematically never provide a requestedemail, to systematically never provide a requested wireless phone numberor some combination thereof.

In a preferred embodiment, the default privacy protocol may be to alwaysask permission to provide a requested email address and to always askpermission to provide a wireless phone number.

If no response is received, the request may be repeated a number oftimes at a later time or date. In a preferred embodiment, if no responseis received to a first request, the request is re-sent 48 hours later.No response to the second request is taken as a “NO” for this particularrequest only.

In a preferred embodiment, the recipient of the request, i.e., the dataowner, may verify the requested information by entering the requestedemail and/or wireless phone number into an input box and explicitlyclicking a button or icon to share the data.

The end-user programmed app 145 may inform the end-user when a responsehas been received and may systematically update the contact record orpersonal contact information 175 on the database 105 of personal contactinformation.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, each user has theability to initiate each request for contact updates on-demand.According to another embodiment of the present invention, the system 100enables each user to schedule contact update requests, data deliverypreferences, and pre-authorized security approvals and paymentapprovals.

According to an embodiment, the user may initiate a contact update fromthe end user electronic communications device 110. This request may bemade using, e.g., a smartphone app, text messaging, etc. However, othermethods for making this request may also be used, while maintaining thespirit of the present invention. For example, the request may be madeusing voice activation.

According to an embodiment, the user initiates a contact update bysupplying at least two contact fields of data by voice, such as name andphone number, or email, or address. Using a voice recognition andprocessing capability that is licensed or native to the end-userelectronic communications device, and which may or may not beproprietary, the user may request updated contact data in multipleformats. According to an embodiment, the data update is added to thecontract list native to the end-user electronic communications device110 in all cases. The user may also elect to receive a phone numberorally, however in all cases delivered to the native phone applicationfor use in generating an immediate phone call.

System 100 enables users to initiate each request for contact updateson-demand. According to another embodiment, the invention furtherprovides for a preference-based system 100 which enables the user toschedule contact update requests, data delivery preferences, andpre-authorized security approvals and payment approvals.

According to embodiments of the present invention, suchpreference-driven capabilities may include: updates, on a monthly orquarterly basis, of a single contact or the entire contact list storedon the end-user electronic communications device 110; updates, on amonthly or quarterly basis, of only those contacts stored on theend-user electronic communications device 110 that have previouslyreceived data updates; updates, on a monthly or quarterly basis, of onlythose contacts stored on the end-user electronic communications device110 contacts that have never previously received data updates; or somecombination thereof.

According to an embodiment, preference-driven capabilities may furtherinclude: the capability to update only the consumer data for thecontacts stored on the end-user electronic communications device 110;the capability to update only the business data for the contacts storedon the end-user electronic communications device 110; the capability toupdate only the contacts stored on the end-user electroniccommunications device 110 for which the subject contact hasaffirmatively opted into the sharing of publicly available contact data;the capability to use a “push” service that delivers updates in realtime as soon as a third-party data source updates some or all contactsthat have been preauthorized by the user (through the preference-settingprocess); and the capability to make an election to make use of DataEnhancement Services.

The present invention provides for users to access expanded contact dataservices made available using an integrated routing capability.Together, this is referred to as the Expanded Data Services.

According to an embodiment, the user may elect to activate preferencesthat route certain contact data requests to the Expanded Data Services.According to an embodiment, the preferences route such requests afterthe base enhancement service has failed to find data elements in thethird party databases that match the data elements supplied in theupdate request from the end-user electronic communications device.According to other embodiments, such a routing step is not performed.

According to an embodiment, if the matching data elements cannot beidentified, evaluated, or made available, the requests may be authorizedby the user to be systematically routed to a supporting Data HygieneService, whereby contact data is processed through a combination ofalgorithms and/or a manual review to correct data errors such that DataHygiene-improved contact information thereafter will be successfullyhandled by the system.

According to another embodiment, if the matching data elements cannot beidentified, evaluated, or made available, the requests may be authorizedby the user to be systematically routed to a Concierge Service, wherebycontact data is processed through a research process to correct and addcontact data, and perhaps data that complements contact data, such thatthe Concierge Service-improved contact information thereafter will becapable of being successfully handled by the system.

According to another embodiment, the system 100 provides for thecapability for users to initiate a Custom Search for contacts andcontact data that, like the Concierge Service, requires an element ofmanual processing. According to an embodiment, the user may use the appto search contacts stored on the end-user electronic communicationsdevice 110 to select contacts and initiate one or more searches forinformation about the selected contacts. The results of such a searchwould be highly structured by the invention and returned to the screenon the end-user electronic communications device 110 using a form thatenables the end user to review search results and choose, from thesearch results, any data elements that should be added to the contactsstored on the end-user electronic communications device 110.

According to an embodiment, the system provides for the Data HygieneService, the Concierge Service, and/or the Custom Search Service to beselected by the user on-demand or by pre-authorizing and scheduling useof the integrated routing capability.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic flow diagram indicating various steps that maybe used in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In step 1001, the manager server 115 may first obtain data to populatethe server database 120 with contact data elements 125. This data may beobtained from one or more third party databases 190, or may be obtainedfrom end-users or subscribers when they join the service, or at periodictime intervals while the end-user is a subscriber to, or a member of,the automatic enhancement of personal contact information service. Whenobtaining contact data from an end-user, the manager server 115 may alsoobtain privacy preferences and/or on how requests emanating from theirend-user electronic communications device 110 may be made, as detailedabove.

In step 1002, the manager server 115 may receive a request for a contactdata element. The request may contain sufficient data to identify thedata-owner of the requested data element. The request may be madebecause the personal contact information 175 on the end-user's database105 of personal contact information may have incomplete data, or datathat may be outdated. The end-user programmed app 145 may, for instance,select to systematically check or confirm any data elements that mayhave been obtained prior to a certain date. In a preferred embodiment,any data that is deemed to be more than 12 months old may besystematically checked for accuracy.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, each user has theability to initiate each request for contact updates on-demand.According to another embodiment of the present invention, the system 100enables each user to schedule contact update requests, data deliverypreferences, and pre-authorized security approvals and paymentapprovals.

According to an embodiment, the user may initiate a contact update fromthe end user electronic communications device 110. This request may bemade using, e.g., a smartphone app, text messaging, etc. However, othermethods for making this request may also be used, while maintaining thespirit of the present invention. For example, the request may be madeusing voice activation.

According to an embodiment, the user initiates a contact update bysupplying at least two contact fields of data by voice. Using a voicerecognition and processing capability that is licensed or native to theend-user electronic communications device, and which may or may not beproprietary, the user may request updated contact data in multipleformats. According to an embodiment, the data update is added to thecontact list native to the end-user electronic communications device 110in all cases. The user may also elect to receive a phone number orally,however all responses are delivered to the native phone application foruse in generating an immediate phone call.

In step 1003, the manager server 115 may comply with any relevantprivacy protocol associated with the requested data element. In apreferred embodiment, the default privacy protocol may be tosystematically ask permission to provide a requested email address andto systematically ask permission to provide a wireless phone number.This default protocol may be changed at any time by the data-owner.

In step 1004, the manager server 115 may after having complied with anyapplicable protocols, received any required permissions, and obtainedany required data, respond to the request by either supplying therequested data to the end-user programmed app 145 or informing theend-user programmed app 145 that the requested data cannot be supplied.

In obtaining requested data, the manager server 115 may consult one ormore third party databases 190. These third-party databases 190 may bebroadly classified as business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business(B2B) or social media (SM) databases. In a preferred embodiment, in theevent that multiple, non-identical responses to the request are found inmultiple instances of B2C, B2B and SM databases, system logic integratedinto the manager server 115 is defined to identify, evaluate and makeavailable to the end-user programmed app 145 the highest confidenceresponse or responses.

In a preferred embodiment, when the end-user programmed app 145 has sentmore than one request at any one time, the manager server 115 may firstrespond by providing the end-user programmed app 145 with data such as,but not limited to, a number of records checked, a number of recordsmatched, a number of available changes to be made, or some combinationthereof.

The end-user may then use the end-user programmed app 145 to decidewhich of the available updates to accept. This selection may besignificant in that the end-user may be charged based on the number ofchange requests made, or may be limited to making only a certain numberof change requests within a certain time period, or some combinationthereof.

Once the manager server 115 receives a further request to make one ormore of the available changes, the manager server 115 may then supplythe necessary information to adopt the requested available changes.

In a preferred embodiment, the end-user may use the end-user programmedapp 145, in the event that the manager server 115 is unable to findmatching data from the third-party databases 190, to authorize thesystematic routing of said unmatched data to expanded data services,whereby unmatched contact information is processed through a combinationof algorithms and/or manual review to correct and/or append missing orerroneous contact information.

Although this invention has been described with a certain degree ofparticularity, it is to be understood that the present disclosure hasbeen made only by way of illustration and that numerous changes in thedetails of construction and arrangement of parts may be resorted towithout departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is: 1: A method for updating a database of personalcontact information on an end-user electronic communications device,comprising: providing at least a first end-user electroniccommunications device and a second end-user electronic communicationsdevice, with each end-user device being capable of coupling to acommunications network, wherein said first and/or said second end-userelectronic communications device stores, in a contact database, at leastone contact data element pertaining to said second user or said firstuser respectively; providing a manager server having programmedinstructions for controlling a server database, said server databasecomprising a plurality of contact data elements, wherein one or more ofsaid plurality of contact data elements comprises a preferred permissionprotocol selected via said first and/or second user; receiving arequest, from said program operative on said first user and/or secondend-user electronic communications device, for one or more of saidplurality of contact data elements stored on said server database, saidone or more of said plurality of contact data elements being identifiedby said at least one contact data element of said first and/or seconduser; systematically applying, by said manager server, said preferredpermission protocol of requested said one or more of said plurality ofcontact data elements, wherein if said preferred permission protocolallows, systematically supplying, by said server manager, a requestedcontact data element to said program operative on said first and/orsecond end-user electronic communications device, and, wherein if saidpreferred permission protocol does not allow supplying of said requestedcontact data element, said first or second user generating and sending apermission request for said requested contact data element. 2: Themethod of claim 1 wherein said at least one contact data element is anemail address and wherein said permission request is generated and sentvia email to said first and/or second user, said email comprising anidentity of said requester, a nature of said one or more contact dataelements requested, and an allow or disallow option. 3: The method ofclaim 1 wherein said at least one contact data element is a phone numberand wherein said permission request is generated and sent via apermissioned text message, said text message comprising an identity ofsaid requester, a type of said one or more contact data elementsrequested, and an allow or disallow option. 4: The method of claim 1wherein supplying said requested contact data element further comprisesusing said at least two data elements to query said database, andwherein said matches in said database are evaluated, identified and madeavailable to an end-user programmed application as a highest confidenceresponse or responses. 5: The method of claim 1 wherein said database ofcontact database elements is configured to query at least one thirdparty database. 6: The method of claim 5 wherein said at least one thirdparty database is selected from the group consisting of: at least oneB2C contact information database, at least one B2B contact informationdatabase; and at least one SM contact information database, and whereinsupplying said requested contact data element further comprises usingsaid at least two data elements to obtain a first matching data elementfrom said B2C database, at least one matching data element from said B2Bdatabase, and/or at least one matching data element from said SMdatabase, and wherein said matching data elements are identified,evaluated, and made available as a highest confidence response orresponses. 7: The method of claim 1 further comprises receiving aplurality of requests from said program and wherein said manager serverresponds by providing a number of records checked, a number of recordsmatched and a number of possible changes available to be made on apersonal contacts database associated with said first and/or secondend-user electronic communications device. 8: The method of claim 7further comprising receiving a request to make one or more of saidpossible changes, and supplying said information to make said requestedpossible changes. 9: The method of claim 3 wherein said at least onecontact data element is a wireless phone number. 10: A method forsystematically updating a database of personal contact information on anend-user electronic communications device, comprising: providing atleast a first and a second end-user electronic communications device,with each end-user device being capable of coupling to a communicationsnetwork, wherein said first and/or said second end-user electroniccommunications device stores, in a contact database, at least onecontact data element pertaining to said second user or said first userrespectively; providing a manager server having programmed instructionsfor systematically controlling a server database, said server databasecomprising a plurality of contact data elements, wherein one or more ofsaid plurality of contact data elements comprises a preferred permissionprotocol selected via a user, and wherein said server database iscapable of querying at least one third party database, wherein said atleast one third party database comprises at least one B2C contactinformation database and at least one B2B contact information database;said user receiving a request, from said program operative on saidend-user electronic communications device, for one or more of saidplurality of contact data elements stored on said server database;systematically applying, by said manager server, said preferredpermission protocol of requested said one or more of said plurality ofcontact data elements, wherein if said preferred permission protocolallows, systematically supplying, by said server manager, a requestedcontact data element to said program operative on said end-userelectronic communications device, and, wherein if said preferredpermission protocol does not allow a supplying of said requested contactdata element, said server manager generating and sending a permissionrequest for said requested contact data element to said user. 11: Themethod of claim 10 wherein said at least one contact data element is apersonal email address and wherein said permission request is generatedand sent via email to said first and/or second end user communicationsdevice, said email comprising an identity of said requester, a nature ofsaid contact data element requested, and an allow or disallow option.12: The method of claim 10 wherein said at least one data element is aphone number and wherein said permission request is generated and sentvia an email or text message to said user, said email or text messagecomprising an identity of said requester, a nature of said contact dataelement requested, and an allow or disallow option. 13: The method ofclaim 10 wherein supplying said requested contact data element furthercomprises using said at least two data elements to query said database,and wherein said matches in said database are identified, evaluated, andmade available as a highest confidence response or responses. 14: Themethod of claim 10 further comprises receiving a plurality of requestsfrom said program and wherein said manager server responds by providingto said first and/or second end user communications device a number ofrecords checked, a number of records matched and a number of changesavailable to be made on a personal contacts database associated withsaid first and/or second end-user electronic communications device. 15:The method of claim 10 further comprising receiving a request to makeone or more of said possible changes, and supplying said information tomake said available changes. 16: The method of claim 12 wherein said atleast one data element of said data element is a wireless phone number.17: The method of claim 10 wherein, when updating said one or morecontact data elements, said matching data elements are identified,evaluated, and made available as the highest confidence response orresponses. 18: The method of claim 17 wherein said matching dataelements are not identified, evaluated or made available, and whereinsuch requests are authorized by the user to be systematically routed toa expanded data hygiene service, whereby contact data is processedthrough a combination of algorithms and/or manual review to correct dataerrors. 19: The method of claim 17 wherein said matching data elementsare not identified, evaluated or made available, and wherein suchrequests are authorized by the user to be systematically routed to theexpanded Concierge Service, whereby contact data is processed through amanual research process to correct and add contact data.